Pacific storms to douse Seattle to San Francisco through midweek

Following a wet first week of January for the southwestern United States, storms will persist across the Pacific coast this week. However, the heaviest rain and mountain snow will take aim farther north.

"A shift in the storm track will bring a pair of systems into [the Pacific Northwest] during the Monday to Wednesday period," AccuWeather Meteorologist Michael Doll said.

"Storms and the bulk of the rain and mountain snow will target areas from northern California to Washington and British Columbia [this week]," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

On Monday, light rain is in store from San Francisco to Seattle as a weak storm moves onshore, with light snow forecast for the Cascades. Precipitation will mainly be a nuisance and should cause few travel disruptions.

Following the system on Monday, a more potent storm will push inland Tuesday into Wednesday.

The heaviest rain will likely stretch from northern California to southern British Columbia Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Rain could come down heavy enough to cause localized flash flooding across the region.

Then, rain will shift southward into central California on Wednesday, with mountain snow ramping up across the Sierra, where up to a foot of snow is likely.

By the time rain reaches Southern California on Wednesday night, precipitation will be much lighter and more scattered.

This rain and mountain snow will fall across areas of the Pacific Northwest that have experienced an early January dry spell.

At the conclusion of the first week of January, Seattle only received 5 percent of their normal monthly precipitation. Portland, Oregon, only received 11 percent.

This dry spell follows an extremely wet end to 2015.

"Nearly a foot of rain fell in Seattle with more than 15 inches falling in Portland, Oregon, during December 2015," according to Sosnowski.

Locations across the Pacific Northwest could make up for their early January precipitation deficits as the stormy pattern looks to continue into next week.